Jessica Alba Wants Her Daughter To Be Bilingual

Hollywood actress Jessica Alba is planning to raise her daughter to be bilingual, it has been reported.

The star has already hired a language tutor for her daughter, Honor, who is just 19 months old, to teach her Spanish.

Alba says she wishes she had been raised bilingual herself and wants her daughter to be protected from the kind of criticism she faced.

The actress was criticised for her inability to speak Spanish when she shot to fame ten years ago, aged 18.

She has been accused of trying to distance herself from her Latina roots.

She told Siempre Mujer magazine: "God knows that I wish I was raised bilingual. But it wasn't to be."

It hardly seems like it's her fault she wasn't raised to speak two languages. Parents have to be very committed to raise a bilingual child.

"I tried to explain to [journalists] that in this country I'm considered Latina and, thus, I consider myself Latina as well," Alba, 28, told Siempre Mujer.

"I identify with Mexicans. It's in my blood whether or not I speak Spanish."

Apparently Alba is now also taking Spanish lessons herself and wants to make films in Spanish.

She told Siempre Mujer: "There are so many interesting themes and stories that are worth sharing, like the lives of immigrants, for example.

"There's a whole world that hasn't been sufficiently explored and I want to be part of it -- the violence on the Mexican borders, the political upheaval in Venezuela and Bolivia and the drug trafficking in Colombia."

Have you raised your children to be bilingual? Was it difficult? Or did you have the choice but decide not to?